This article originally appeared in The Tampa Bay Business Journal.
A new veterans’ clinic will be built in Tampa and replace services from surrounding undersized clinics.
The U.S. General Services Administration has awarded a 20-year lease to Illinois-based Cullinan Properties LTD to build a new mental health clinic for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Tampa. The new $91 million clinic in Temple Terrace will combine three existing VA services on and off James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital’s main Tampa campus.
The new facility would consolidate the existing psychology rehab and recovery center, the Tampa domiciliary, and a residential treatment program for homeless veterans or those at risk of becoming homeless into a 144,000-square-foot mental health care facility.
Unlike the VA clinics around the greater Tampa Bay area, this clinic will solely be focused on mental health.
“By bringing together all of these essential services under one roof, our partners with the VA will be able to offer more convenient access to the care for those veterans in need,” said acting Regional Administrator Kevin Kerns with GSA’s Southeast Sunbelt region.
Once complete, the replacement will allow the James A. Haley VA Hospital to backfill the mental health services spaces with administrative offices or other services, a spokeswoman said.
By consolidating three facilities into a single medical center, the new agreement will also save an estimated $15 million over the lease term, according to GSA.
The new two-story clinic will be located on Temple Terrace Highway and Davis Road. It will have 60 beds and 800 parking spaces, according to GSA’s release. Construction will start in spring 2022 and take approximately 18 months to complete.
The general contractor for the new building is Alabama-based Hoar Construction, with design services provided by Nebraska-based Leo A. Daly.
The GSA also recently signed a lease agreement to build a new outpatient-based clinic in Lakeland for $112.17 million.
New VA clinics of this size typically help generate roughly 100 new jobs.
